August 24 -- Kangmei Pharmaceutical (600518.SH) filed its net profit and revenue grew 40.92 percent and 89.58 percent year-on-year to 436 million yuan and 2.79 billion yuan in the first half for EPS of 0.206 yuan, reports yicai.com.

Chemical pharmaceutical revenue hit 555 million yuan with a gross margin of 18.77 percent, down 5.47 percentage points year-on-year. Chinese herbal medicine revenue totaled 2.02 billion yuan with a gross margin of 33.81 percent, down 6.95 percentage points year-on-year.

In the first half, Kangmei began cooperating with APS and several other listed herbal medicine makers at present. But the company was criticized by the National Development and Reform Commission in the first half for its hoarding and speculation of pseudo-ginseng, a Chinese medicinal herb. The interim report did not say if the firm would be hit with punitive measures by the NDRC.

General manager Xu Dongjin also said Kangmei’s Chinese medicinal herb electronic trading platform will be launched at the end of this year in Bozhou city, Anhui Province.